e-Audio, 07:57:58
Narrated by: Natalia del Riego & Adan Rocha
Release Date: October 19, 2021
Published by: Hachette Audio
Read from: December 27-28, 2021
Stand-alone
Source: Library’s Overdrive
TW: Car Accident, Death of a Parent
For Readers Interested In: Contemporary Romance, Realistic Fiction, Friends to Lovers, YALuisa (Lou) Patterson grew up across the street from Sam Alvarez in the small, quirky town of Port Coral. They used to be inseparable–spending every holiday together, shooting silly YouTube videos, and rescuing stray cats. But then middle school happened, including the most disastrous (and embarrassing) serenade ever, and Lou and Sam haven’t talked in the four years since. Sam is now the golden boy with plenty of friends, while Lou is an introverted romantic who’s happy playing video games and writing fan fiction. But it’s also the summer before their senior year, and life is knocking on Lou’s door.
With her older sister having given up a scholarship to Princeton to have a baby and work at the local botanica, all of their mother’s expectations are now riding on Lou’s shoulders. She’s retaking her SAT’s, signed up for way too many AP classes, and her sights set on colleges with fancy names like Duke and Vanderbilt. But when she finds the bucket list she and Sam wrote together as kids, before Sam’s father was diagnosed with cancer, she’s shocked to see that she hasn’t accomplished any of the goals she’d set for herself. Go to a party? Nope. Pull the greatest prank of all time? Still no. Learn how to be a really good kisser? Definitely not.
Torn between the future that her mother, sister, and younger self planned for her, Lou sets out to finish the list, and in a stroke of destiny or fate, Sam decides to tag along. Still trying to stay afloat amid the grief of losing his father, Sam himself is staring down a future that feels all too close, and is coming far too fast. But with the bucket list to guide them, Sam and Lou might just be able to find a way through the future, and also a way back to each other.
*MY THOUGHTS*
Normally when I come across a book by an author I’ve read before, I don’t hesitate to read it. I try to read it as soon as I can. Especially if I LOVED their first one. And for some reason, I didn’t do this with this one. And I’ve been mad at myself ever since. From now on, Nina Moreno goes on the priority TBR list when she writes something lol I won’t be waiting anymore!
Sam and Lou were friends once. But after Sam embarrasses her and then further turns it into mortification, they aren’t. But one day, Lou finds a bucket list that they wanted to do one summer. She decides she wants to finish it to try to relieve some of the pressure riding her shoulders because of her mom and her college dreams. But suddenly she needs Sam and like always, he’s there. But does that mean he forgives her? Does that mean he wants to be friends again? Maybe more?
I ADORED Lou and Sam. Both of their characters had some pretty strong emotions throughout the whole book. Sam and his grief and Lou and her pressure from everything. And on top of all of that was the love that was starting to bloom between the two of them. It was intense in a YA kind of way, with the angst and all, but it was so spot on. I’ve definitely encountered students like this during my time in the library.
As for their romance, I thought it was cute, but I wanted to know more of their back story. For them to be so hung up on the past, its mentioned in passing in the synopsis and story, but it’s never really talked about between the two of them. I don’t think they ever really realized why what either of them did upset the other? It just seemed like it was this huge thing to make them stop talking, someone shrugged and said, “I’m sorry,” and then it was over. Like if it was going to be that easy, why stop talking for so long? It just didn’t make sense to me.
And then there’s the setting. I LOVED being back in Port Coral. It was nice to be back by the water, to see some familiar faces, and to see some familiar actvities. Being back by the water in this sunshiney town was one of the best parts. Being from a seaside town myself, I can definitely relate to some of the things she mentioned.
Last but not least, I was super impressed with some of the topics this book touched on too. Like the part where she was trying to try out her pitch to her sister and mom? It got really deep there and I wasn’t expecting that. I say that because this story was light hearted the rest of the story, but at this one point they talked about real issues that people of color face and I liked that alot. One of the reasons I LOVE own voices books. They talk about the real issues and they show some of the best cultural traditions. And this book did both of those things. (Both Lou and Sam are biracial with a LatinX parent and a white parent.)
Rosa Santos is still my favorite by Moreno, but this is a hella close second. I really enjoyed meeting Sam and Lou and watching them fall for each other. Moreno also has a debut MG book coming out in May and I need to get my hands on that one too. I won’t be waiting to read books by her anymore!
Overall, I give this
